1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information presenting apparatus, an information presenting method, and a computer program, adapted to manage information associated with each of one or more files stored in storage means and present the information to a user, and more particularly, to an information presenting apparatus, an information presenting method, and a computer program, adapted to manage information associated with each of one or more content files of still images or motion images taken by a digital camera or the like and present the information to a user.
More specifically, the present invention relates to an information presenting apparatus, an information presenting method, and a computer program, adapted to present one or more content files of still images or motion images taken by a digital camera or the like depending on the date/time of taking images or updating files, and more particularly, to an information presenting apparatus, an information presenting method, and a computer program, adapted to present one or more representative images of content files in a calendar view in accordance with the date/time of producing the content files.
2. Description of the Related Art
Nowadays, many people enjoy producing a content file (a still image file, a motion image file, an audio file, etc.) using a digital image recording apparatus such as a digital still camera or a digital video camera.
In many cases, an image taken by a digital still/video camera is transferred to a host apparatus such as a personal computer (PC) and is stored as a content file therein. In many cases, a large number of content files are stored and managed in the host apparatus. However, in the case where a large number of content files are stored, it is generally difficult for a user to well manage all content files, and thus some content files are forgotten without being used. The great power of a computer allows a user to handle a huge number of contents. This is very useful for users on the one hand, while on the other hand, this leads to difficulty in managing contents. Thus, it is desirable to provide a technique to allow a user to easily find an image from a huge number of images the user has shot.
One technique to provide a visual key or clue to a desired content is to use a view format in which contents are placed according to where, why, what, when, who, and/or how the contents were acquired/taken. In context analysis performed by a user, the analysis is based on the place, the reason, the time, the manner, and/or the like of a content, and thus mapping of contents on the view format in accordance with the place, the reason, the time, the manner, and/or the like of subjects makes it possible for the user to easily manage and find a desired content.
A specific example of such a view format is a calendar view format having day boxes arranged in the form of an array having seven columns assigned to respective days of the week. In this format, contents are placed in day boxes according to the date of contents. More specifically, for example, content files stored in an information processing apparatus are managed by displaying representative images of content files in a calendar view in accordance with the year, the month, the day, and/or the time at which the content files were produced (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-33711 (FIG. 31)).
When a list of images is displayed in such a calendar view format, a calendar is displayed as a background image, and thumbnail images representative of motion images or sill images are displayed on the calendar at locations corresponding to the date when the motion/still images were shot thereby presenting information associated with the motion/still images in a seamless manner in terms of time. A GUI (Graphical User Interface) can be realized using such a calendar view format. On the calendar view serving as such a GUI, if a user clicks on a particular thumbnail image, a content file corresponding to the clicked thumbnail image is selected and playback of the content is started in a full size. Note that not the thumbnail image but the original full-size content is played back. In a case where a content corresponding to a selected thumbnail image is a motion image, the motion image is played back starting from its beginning.
Because the screen size is limited, it is reasonable to use thumbnail images to present information associated with a large number of image files at a time on the screen with the limited size. For still images, presenting the information using thumbnail images allows a user to recognize subjects and backgrounds of the corresponding original images, although the amount of information given by the thumbnail images is less than that of the original images.
In the case of motion images, presenting information associated with each motion image using a single thumbnail image (for example, a thumbnail image of a first frame of the motion image) does not allow a user to easily understand the content of the motion image. Besides, because a single thumbnail image is used as a representative image of each motion image regardless of whether the motion image is long or short, it is difficult to get information about the length of motion images from the calendar view, although the calendar view provides information about the date/time when motion images were shot.
Thus, to get information about the content of a motion image, a user has to play back the motion image. This is troublesome for the user, and it takes a long time. Basically, to get information about the content of a motion image, as long a time as the length of the motion image is needed.
In general image playback tools, it is possible to seek within a motion image by moving a knob on a scroll bar indicating the current playback position in time of the motion image. However, for a motion image including a particular scene that a user wants to see, although the user does not completely understand the content of the motion image, it is difficult for the user to determine where the user can find the target scene in seeking. In other words, it is necessary to continue seeking until the target scene appears.